With a swimming pool at home, safety naturally becomes a high priority. Your pool tiles should not just be aesthetically pleasing but low maintenance and durable too. Here are all the things you should keep in mind while picking pool tiles.
Complementing colours
Your pool area should elevate the aesthetics of your house. Keeping this factor in mind, choose pool tiles that complement the surroundings. Homeowners generally choose light-coloured stones like Silver Travertine with a subtle greyish tone, Indiana White Limestone in a white hue, or beige-toned Teakwood Sandstone. This is because soft hues create an illusion of larger spaces. These colours also look classy and soothing. The blue pool waters also stand out beautifully against bold coloured pool tiles. Tiles like Diamond Black Granite, and Midnight Glow Limestone steal the show!
Pool tiles with good durability
Durability is an important aspect to keep in mind while renovating or building your pool. Not just long life, look for stones that are resilient and have good weather endurance. Pool tiles in your pool deck should have the strength to stand up against traffic, rough weather, and general wear and tear.
Do they remain cool under the sun?
This is a major aspect to consider for outdoor pools. Pools that are out in the sun, might get hot under direct sun. This makes walking barefoot on them difficult, especially in the blazing summer heat. There are two ways to avoid this. The first way is to install a shade around the pool. Pool pavers and tiles would remain cool in partially shaded or covered areas. The second alternative is to choose pool tiles that remain cool. Natural stones like Travertine and Limestone reflect sunlight and absorb the coolness of the earth beneath. They are cool to touch than other natural stones and perfect for the outdoors.
Are your pool tiles low maintenance?
Your pool deck is often prone to algae or moss formation, causing a slippery surface. Regular maintenance can slow down this growth. But who has the time and resources to maintain a pool every day or frequently? Hence the choice of pool tiles plays an important role in your pool construction. Not just the tile quality but installing them properly is the first step to ensuring your peace of mind. Durable and resilient pool tiles like Granite, Travertine, and Limestone won’t break easily and therefore won’t need repair or maintenance. If the tiles are light in colour, they get stained quickly and chances are that the stains will show up even quicker. Sealing your pool tiles is compulsory or your pool’s survival may be difficult.
Choose pool tiles with good slip resistance
Pool tiles naturally tend to get slippery with the water splashing around. Choosing natural stones like Unfilled Travertine, Sandblasted Granite or Honed Sandstones helps. These pool tiles have excellent slip resistance, reducing fall hazards to a great extent.
Slip rating, also known as pendulum testing, measures the friction on the stone in dry and wet conditions. Pool tiles at Stone Depot undergo rigorous slip tests to ensure a safe, risk-free surface for you and your family. Slip rating is available on request.
How to conduct slip rating test
Generally, the test is conducted using a portable slip testing machine fitted with a pendulum. The pendulum mimics human heels walking on the surface. The head of the pendulum is fitted with a rubber slider. The machine is zeroed to standardize the swing and conduct a fair test. Some water is sprayed on the surface to test the stone in wet conditions.
When released horizontally, this rubber slider sweeps across the pool tile surface with a constant velocity and records the drag. There is a loss of friction with the pendulum’s sweep, implying a risk of slipping. The readings are logged to calculate an average. At least 5 swings are recorded and the difference in each reading should not differ more than 3 units. A higher rating signifies good slip resistance of the pool tiles.
